Pennsylvania: Workers’ Comp and Voluntary Retirement

05/08/2013by Mark Buterbaugh

The Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board recently overturned a decision by a Workers’ Comp judge on a suspension petition (Garda v. City of Pittsburgh, 28 PAWCLR 65 (Pa. W.C.A.B. 2013). The situation here is that an injured worker took a disability pension because he could no longer perform his regular duty job.

Receiving a disability petition in of itself is not a bar to continuing workers’ compensation wage loss benefits. If a worker can show that he took the disability pension because he no longer could perform his regular duty job, but was still able to work and was actively seeking employment, wage loss benefits could continue.

So what was the difference maker in this case?

Despite testimony from the injured worker that he sought jobs through friends and searched the newspaper ads, the WCAB ruled that was not enough. The standard is good faith. Good faith entails more than just looking for a job. It includes actively applying for jobs. In this case, the injured workers testified that he was looking, but never applied for a single job. The board explained that a worker must do more than just look for a job. The good-faith standard requires a worker to apply or send applications for employment or show that he was actively applying for employment. If he does so, then he would likely defeat a Suspension Petition.

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